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MDRC’s Scaling Up College Completion Efforts for Student Success (SUCCESS) seeks to improve graduation rates for traditionally underserved students at community colleges by helping states and institutions align their resources with evidence-driven practices. The study will use a multi-site randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to estimate the average causal effect of the opportunity to participate in SUCCESS. The program components include: frequent proactive coaching; financial incentives tied to service usage; strategies focused on increasing academic momentum (like requiring full-time enrollment and/or encouraging summer/winter enrollment); and the use of real-time data to monitor and support student progress. MDRC will provide in-depth technical assistance to nine colleges from four states beginning in fall 2019. At least seven colleges will be included in the RCT and will recruit and enroll 400-600 students into the study, spread across two or three cohorts, from fall 2020 through fall 2021. To answer whether SUCCESS improves academic outcomes, the RCT will estimate the average (across persons) intent-to-treat (ITT) effect of the program on academic progress and completion through three years after random assignment. Graduation rates at community colleges have remained low for decades, especially for low-income students and students of color. Research shows that certain approaches (for instance, enhanced advising, financial incentives, encouragement to enroll in summer) can have positive, although often modest, effects. Combining multiple evidence-based interventions into a single extended program can produce substantial improvements in student outcomes. Examples of such programs include Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA) and One Million Degrees. Most notably, CUNY designed, developed, and implemented its Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), which was the first to show, through a random assignment evaluation, that comprehensive student support programs could dramatically increase graduation rates. This project will evaluate the effectiveness of SUCCESS on student academic outcomes, as compared with the colleges’ regular programs and services. SUCCESS participants will be required to enroll in 24 or more credits per year and use support services regularly. All SUCCESS programs will provide services to students for up to three years. The standard program components include: frequent proactive coaching; financial incentives tied to service usage; strategies focused on increasing academic momentum (like requiring full-time enrollment and encouraging summer/winter enrollment); and the use of real-time data to support student progress. States and colleges will be encouraged to align SUCCESS programs with existing initiatives, such as Promise programs or Guided Pathways. States and colleges may also adapt programs for specific student populations, for example, by including cultural components designed to help students of color or by including features that may address the needs of nontraditional students.

MDRC’s Scaling Up College Completion Efforts for Student Success (SUCCESS) seeks to improve graduation rates for traditionally underserved students at community colleges by helping states and institutions align their resources with evidence-driven practices. The study will use a multi-site randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to estimate the average causal effect of the opportunity to participate in SUCCESS. The program components include: frequent proactive coaching; financial incentives tied to service usage; strategies focused on increasing academic momentum (like requiring full-time enrollment and/or encouraging summer/winter enrollment); and the use of real-time data to monitor and support student progress. MDRC will provide in-depth technical assistance to nine colleges from four states beginning in fall 2019. At least seven colleges will be included in the RCT and will recruit and enroll 400-600 students into the study, spread across two or three cohorts, from fall 2020 through fall 2021. To answer whether SUCCESS improves academic outcomes, the RCT will estimate the average (across persons) intent-to-treat (ITT) effect of the program on academic progress and completion through three years after random assignment. Graduation rates at community colleges have remained low for decades, especially for low-income students and students of color. Research shows that certain approaches (for instance, enhanced advising, financial incentives, encouragement to enroll in summer) can have positive, although often modest, effects. Combining multiple evidence-based interventions into a single extended program can produce substantial improvements in student outcomes. Examples of such programs include Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA) and One Million Degrees. Most notably, CUNY designed, developed, and implemented its Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), which was the first to show, through a random assignment evaluation, that comprehensive student support programs could dramatically increase graduation rates. This project will evaluate the effectiveness of SUCCESS on student academic outcomes, as compared with the colleges’ regular programs and services. SUCCESS participants will be required to enroll in 24 or more credits per year and use support services regularly. All SUCCESS programs will provide services to students for up to three years. The standard program components include: frequent proactive coaching; financial incentives tied to service usage; strategies focused on increasing academic momentum (like requiring full-time enrollment and encouraging summer/winter enrollment); and the use of real-time data to support student progress. States and colleges will be encouraged to align SUCCESS programs with existing initiatives, such as Promise programs or Guided Pathways. States and colleges may also adapt programs for specific student populations, for example, by including cultural components designed to help students of color or by including features that may address the needs of nontraditional students.

Success for All, a comprehensive schoolwide reform program for elementary schools serving many children placed at risk of school failure, was first piloted in one Baltimore elementary school in the 1987-88 school year. Success for All requires substantial change in many aspects of curriculum and instruction and extensive professional development to help schools start children with success and build on that foundation through the elementary grades. The program requires a great deal of professional development done over an extended period of time. This report describes the strategies pursued, the relative success of various dissemination routes, and the implications of those experiences for public policies. This experience has led to the conclusion that successful dissemination requires a combination of talented, dedicated trainers and a local and national network of schools willing and able to provide technical and emotional support. Employing full-time, regionally-based trainers recruited from outstanding Success for All schools is the most effective way of building staff. In contrast, strategies depending on involvement of other organizations or on part-time certified trainers have not generally been successful. In recent years, Success for All is increasingly learning to work in whole districts or subdistricts, and this strategy has led to improved implementations and outcomes.

Success for All, a comprehensive schoolwide reform program for elementary schools serving many children placed at risk of school failure, was first piloted in one Baltimore elementary school in the 1987-88 school year. Success for All requires substantial change in many aspects of curriculum and instruction and extensive professional development to help schools start children with success and build on that foundation through the elementary grades. The program requires a great deal of professional development done over an extended period of time. This report describes the strategies pursued, the relative success of various dissemination routes, and the implications of those experiences for public policies. This experience has led to the conclusion that successful dissemination requires a combination of talented, dedicated trainers and a local and national network of schools willing and able to provide technical and emotional support. Employing full-time, regionally-based trainers recruited from outstanding Success for All schools is the most effective way of building staff. In contrast, strategies depending on involvement of other organizations or on part-time certified trainers have not generally been successful. In recent years, Success for All is increasingly learning to work in whole districts or subdistricts, and this strategy has led to improved implementations and outcomes.

Success for All (SFA), one of the best-known school reform models, aims to improve the reading skills of all children but is especially directed at schools that serve large numbers of students from low-income families. First implemented in 1987, SFA combines a challenging reading program, whole-school reform elements, and an emphasis on continuous improvement, with the goal of ensuring that every child learns to read well in the elementary grades. This is the third and final report from an independent evaluation of the scale-up demonstration of the SFA elementary school reading program. Both the demonstration and the evaluation have been funded under the U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation (i3) competition. Conducted by MDRC--a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and social policy research organization--the evaluation examines SFA's implementation and impacts in five school districts over a three-year period (the 2011-2012 school year through the 2013-2014 school year). It also includes an analysis of program costs. Finally, it considers the scale-up process itself--the methods employed and the extent to which the Success for All Foundation (SFAF), the organization that developed and provides technical assistance to schools operating the program, achieved its scale-up goals. [This report was written with Emma Alterman, Herbert Collado, and Emily Pramik. For the executive summary of this report, see ED579090. For the Early Findings report, see ED545452. For the Interim Report, see ED546642.]

The Success Boston initiative was launched in 2008 specifically to improve Boston public high school graduates' access to and success in college, particularly for members of groups traditionally underrepresented in college degree attainment. Higher college graduation rates, in turn, are expected to increase students' access to employment in such local industries as technology, financial services, higher education, and health care that routinely require advanced training. The Success Boston initiative unites several organizations in a concerted effort to improve college completion rates for Boston public school graduates. The partners focus on boosting college persistence and ultimately improving college completion rates for these graduates through a purposeful combination of program, policy, and practice-based activities. It funds and supports the nonprofit organizations that provide one of the core programs within the overall initiative: one-on-one transition coaching, or Success Boston Coaching (SBC). Through this program, students can access one-on-one coaching, starting as early as the last year of high school and continuing for the first two years after high school graduation. This brief highlights findings from the "Success Boston The Story of Scaling Up: Impact of Success Boston's Coaching to Completion" report, which answers two key research questions: (1) What is the effect of SBC on student success in college?; and (2) How, if at all, do the impacts of SBC vary by student characteristics and features of the coaching? The analyses estimate that SBC students have better early college outcomes than do their carefully matched peers not participating in SBC. Additionally, SBC students are more likely to complete FAFSA renewals for their second year of college. [For "The Story of Scaling Up: Interim Report on the Impact of Success Boston's Coaching for Completion," see ED602748.]

College completion rates are low--nearly 40 percent of students do not earn a degree within six years of enrolling in college. Community college students face the highest hurdles--about 60 percent are without a degree six years after matriculating. Research has identified strategies that institutions can use to improve student success and degree attainment, particularly among students from families with low incomes and others who have been underserved by current higher education policies and practices. Programs that show significant results must be implemented widely--and with fidelity to the proven practice--to change student outcomes meaningfully. This brief summarizes Minnesota's experience with three areas of reform: using multiple measures for course placement, improving communications and policies about satisfactory academic progress, and offering comprehensive student support programs.

This report explores the technical, political, and socio-cultural dimensions of the scaling up process of Success for All (SFA), one of the nation's most successful and extensively researched whole-school change models. SFA, a reform effort aimed at elementary schools serving disadvantaged children, is currently being implemented in over 475 schools. Data for this report, developed through qualitative and quantitative methods, come from a stratified sample of over 300 SFA schools across the country. Survey data were collected from approximately 325 educators. This research suggests that fundamental change in schools occurs and is sustained when the technical, normative, political, and socio-cultural dimensions of schooling are given thoughtful and serious consideration throughout the implementation process. Schools implementing SFA that report success in improving educational outcomes for their students explicitly demonstrate willingness and ability to confront the challenges that are inherent in the change process. Exploring school change from multiple conceptual lenses deepens our understanding of the structures, strategies, practices, and relationships associated with fundamental change in schools. As schools prepare for the next millennium, it is essential that new reform strategies be comprehensive and able to change the organization and operation of schools fundamentally. (Contains seven references.) (Author/SLD)

This report explores the technical, political, and socio-cultural dimensions of the scaling up process of Success for All (SFA), one of the nation's most successful and extensively researched whole-school change models. SFA, a reform effort aimed at elementary schools serving disadvantaged children, is currently being implemented in over 475 schools. Data for this report, developed through qualitative and quantitative methods, come from a stratified sample of over 300 SFA schools across the country. Survey data were collected from approximately 325 educators. This research suggests that fundamental change in schools occurs and is sustained when the technical, normative, political, and socio-cultural dimensions of schooling are given thoughtful and serious consideration throughout the implementation process. Schools implementing SFA that report success in improving educational outcomes for their students explicitly demonstrate willingness and ability to confront the challenges that are inherent in the change process. Exploring school change from multiple conceptual lenses deepens our understanding of the structures, strategies, practices, and relationships associated with fundamental change in schools. As schools prepare for the next millennium, it is essential that new reform strategies be comprehensive and able to change the organization and operation of schools fundamentally. (Contains seven references.) (Author/SLD)

Access to middle class jobs increasingly requires a college degree or credential. Individuals with postsecondary education have competitive advantage in the labor market: even when a job does not explicitly require a degree, a candidate with a degree will tend to be hired over an equally qualified candidate without one. Low-income students, in particular, along with first-generation students and racial/ethnic minorities, are underrepresented in postsecondary education Massachusetts is faced with an aging workforce where nearly half of the labor market is 45 or older. In Boston, the six-year college graduation rate for the city's 2011 public high school graduates who enrolled in college was 52 percent. This rate improves upon the 39 percent seven-year rate for 2000 graduates, yet likely is not sufficient to meet the predicted demand for a college-educated workforce. One-on-one coaching from experienced counselors when students are completing their senior year in high school and beginning college can help them succeed. A core strategy of the city-wide "Success Boston" initiative is one-on-one transition coaching. The coaching model is implemented across a network of nonprofit organizations (that provide coaching) in partnership with institutions of higher education. Transition coaching offers students sustained, proactive, and responsive support in their first two years after high school. This report refers to the transition coaching program as Success Boston Coaching (SBC). The report is designed to answer four main research questions about implementation and impact: (1) What is the effect of SBC on student success in college?; (2) How, if at all, do the impacts of SBC vary by student characteristics and features of the coaching?; (3) How is SBC implemented across partner organizations and partner colleges? and (4) What resources are necessary to implement SBC? This report focuses on the effectiveness of coaching on students' persistence and achievement early in college, answering the first and second research questions. [For the previous report, "Success Boston: Coaching for Completion. 2015-16 Implementation Report," see ED582088. For the companion report, "The Story of Scaling Up: Highlights from the Interim Report on the Impact of Success Boston's Coaching for Completion," see ED602749.]

ODL (Open and Distance Learning) has come to stay. In recent years, there has been some extra-ordinary increasing international interest in it and Ghana is no exception. Currently, new ways of providing education are inevitable and ODL provides an effective alternate way. It represents approaches that focus on opening access to education and learning, freeing learners from the constraints of time and place and offering flexible learning opportunities to individuals/group. To the distant learner, ODL means increased access and flexibility and the combination of work and education. Many countries are trying to use ODL as a strategy for opening access to education. Inadequate infrastructure and professional competence in ODL serve as barriers. The study was designed to examine how learners can gain access to and success in learning. Again, it sought to ascertain some technologies which could be used to improve existing conditions at the IDL (Institute of Distance Learning), KNUST. The questionnaire was administered to 200 students and 20 facilitators. Stratified sampling was employed. The facilitators were interviewed. Lessons learnt include the fact that ODL will be an important element of future education and training. The emergent picture was that even though students use some computers, it could be extended to embrace other technologies, such as video conferencing, phone counseling and writing examinations on line so as to curtail any cultural and social barriers. It is worth noting that information could support the quality/variety of existing educational structures which enhance and consolidate capacity. Hopefully, usage of electronic information technologies in ODL would enhance retrieval/storage and distribution of information. It would also increase facilitation/communication among learners, facilitators and stakeholders in providing lifelong education. (Contains 2 tables.)

Reading Recovery is a short-term early intervention designed to help the lowest-achieving readers in first grade reach average levels of classroom performance in literacy. Students identified to receive Reading Recovery meet individually with a specially trained Reading Recovery teacher every school day for 30-minute lessons over a period of 12 to 20 weeks. The purpose of these lessons is to support rapid acceleration of each child's literacy learning. In 2010, The Ohio State University received a Scaling Up What Works grant from the U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund to expand the use of Reading Recovery across the country. The award was intended to fund the training of 3,675 new Reading Recovery teachers in U.S. schools, thereby expanding service to an additional 88,200 students. The Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) was contracted to conduct an independent evaluation of the i3 scale-up of Reading Recovery over the course of five years. The evaluation includes parallel rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental designs for estimating program impacts, coupled with a large-scale mixed-methods study of program implementation. This report presents the findings of the second year of the evaluation. The primary goals of this evaluation are: (1) to provide experimental evidence of the impacts of Reading Recovery on student learning under this scale-up effort; (2) to assess the success of the scale-up in meeting the i3 grant's expansion goals; and (3) to document the implementation of the scale-up and fidelity to program standards. This document is the second in a series of three reports based on the external evaluation of the Reading Recovery i3 Scale-Up. The report represents results from the impact and implementation studies conducted over the 2012-2013 school year--the third year of the scale-up effort and the second full year of the evaluation. [This document is a reissue of the December 2014 CPRE Research Report RR-79 under the same title. For the Year One Report, see ED547669.]

By describing what has been learned in disseminating Success for All, a reform program for high-poverty elementary schools, this paper explores how a national approach to professional development might enable professional development networks to implement proven school change models. Success for All restructures the elementary school by emphasizing prevention; early intervention; use of innovative reading, writing, and language arts curricula; and extensive professional development. Research in 17 schools in 7 districts has shown the positive effects of Success for All on increasing reading achievement, reducing retentions, improving attendance, and reducing special education placements. Examining its dissemination from its first appearance in one Baltimore (Maryland) school in 1987-88 through its expansion to about 200 schools nationwide in 1994-95 demonstrates the necessity of a skilled staff of trainers to work with schools. Mentoring and apprenticeships for teachers are among the strategies that make dissemination successful. Participating network schools and the central training staff are the keys to scaling up the Success for All program. (Contains 1 table and 14 references.) (SLD)